XPO (NYSE:XPO) Shares Gap Down After Analyst Downgrade

XPO, Inc. (NYSE:XPO)’s share price gapped down before the market opened on Friday after Bank of America lowered their price target on the stock from $150.00 to $131.00. The stock had previously closed at $113.21, but opened at $110.43. Bank of America currently has a buy rating on the stock. XPO shares last traded at $109.79, with a volume of 258,748 shares traded.

A number of other analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Susquehanna upgraded shares of XPO from a “neutral” rating to a “positive” rating and raised their target price for the company from $155.00 to $180.00 in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of XPO from $148.00 to $176.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on XPO in a research note on Friday, March 7th. They set a “buy” rating and a $156.00 target price for the company. Stifel Nicolaus raised XPO from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $147.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Finally, Truist Financial assumed coverage on shares of XPO in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $130.00 price objective for the company. Nineteen research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $155.37.

Insider Activity

In other XPO news, COO David J. Bates acquired 1,880 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $106.16 per share, with a total value of $199,580.80. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief operating officer now directly owns 21,106 shares in the company, valued at $2,240,612.96. This trade represents a 9.78 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On XPO

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Stifel Financial Corp boosted its position in shares of XPO by 159.1% in the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 70,407 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $7,569,000 after acquiring an additional 43,237 shares during the period. Neo Ivy Capital Management bought a new position in XPO in the third quarter valued at $534,000. Natixis Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of XPO by 42.8% during the 4th quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 61,414 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $8,054,000 after buying an additional 18,398 shares in the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC bought a new stake in shares of XPO in the 4th quarter worth approximately $423,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in XPO by 36.2% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 698,831 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $75,131,000 after buying an additional 185,686 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.73% of the company’s stock.

XPO Trading Down 5.2 %

The firm has a 50-day moving average of $125.98 and a 200-day moving average of $129.57. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 2.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.08, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.06.

XPO (NYSE:XPO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The transportation company reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.68 by $0.21. XPO had a return on equity of 30.36% and a net margin of 4.81%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that XPO, Inc. will post 4.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

XPO announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Thursday, March 27th that authorizes the company to buyback $750.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the transportation company to reacquire up to 5.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

About XPO

XPO, Inc provides freight transportation services in the United States, rest of North America, France, the United Kingdom, rest of Europe, and internationally. The company operates in two segments, North American LTL and European Transportation. The North American LTL segment provides customers with less-than-truckload (LTL) services, such as geographic density and day-definite domestic services.